Israel objects to international recognition for the Palestinian territories.

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Google.ps, the website formerly known as "Google Palestinian Territories," was re-christened "Google Palestine" on Wednesday. Israel has opposed international recognition of an independent Palestinian state.

"This change raises questions about the reasons behind this surprising involvement of what is basically a private internet company in international politics—and on the controversial side," a spokesman for the Israeli government told Agence France-Presse.

"We're changing the name 'Palestinian Territories' to 'Palestine' across our products," a Google spokesman told the BBC on Friday. "We consult a number of sources and authorities when naming countries."

Other authorities recognizing the "Palestine" label include the United Nations, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, and the International Standards Organization. The UN upgraded Palestine to a "non-member observer state" in November. Previously it had been a mere "non-member observer entity."

An advisor to Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas praised Google's move as a "step in the right direction."

This is not the first time Google has had to make controversial judgment calls about the names and legal status of disputed territories. In 2010, the Mountain View company was drawn into a border dispute between Costa Rica and Nicaragua after people noticed that Google and Bing had drawn the line between the two nations differently. Earlier the same year, Google was blasted by Cambodia for what that nation considered a "radically misleading" border between Cambodia and Thailand.

Wikipedia, too, has been embroiled in political naming disputes. Between 2001 and 2005, readers fought a bitter edit war over the title of the article about the city in Poland that Polish speakers call "Gdańsk" and German speakers refer to as "Danzig." The dispute was eventually resolved by senior Wikipedia administrators in favor of "Gdańsk."

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Wikipedia, too, has been embroiled in political naming disputes. Between 2001 and 2005, readers fought a bitter edit war over the title of the article about the city in Poland that Polish speakers call "Gdańsk" and German speakers refer to as "Danzig." The dispute was eventually resolved by senior Wikipedia administrators in favor of "Gdańsk."

barely news, in my book. you map that much of the world, and you won't be able to avoid disputes like this, no matter how you try.... google being google, i'd imagine they just feed all the data into a computer and let an algorithm decide.

"This change raises questions about the reasons behind this surprising involvement of what is basically a private internet company in international politics—and on the controversial side" - spokesperson

Not calling it a country is *also* a political statement, you know. Controversial, even. Companies exist in the same world as countries; how could an international corporation *not* have any intersection with politics whatsoever?

Other authorities recognizing the "Palestine" label include the United Nations, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, and the International Standards Organization. The UN upgraded Palestine to a "non-member observer state" in November. Previously it had been a mere "non-member observer entity."

Some things do not need explanation. Lets see, most companies call Palestine, "Palestine" not Territory of Palestine, just like they don't not call Israel "Territory of Israel". Fair enough isn't?

I have even see some forms in some companies called "Occupied Territory of Palestine" which is even more aggressive.

If the United Nations calls it Palestine and recognizes its as a state, its good for me.

Pretty much the whole planet recognizes Palestine and both Israel as independent countries, so there is not much to discuss here. Its not a debate, its a fact. And since we live in a democratic world, majority wins.

What is Google's motive? Odd. Google needs to concentrate on tech and stay out of controversial politics.

Their motive is concentrating on business. google.ps is targeted at Palestinians who are, generally speaking, in favour of a Palestinian state. Google is also following standards in doing so. This is the logical response for any tech company.

It was going to be controversial politics anyway, Google was being lobbied to change it and depending on who you ask, they're making a statement one way or the other. If Google was queried and said they weren't changing it, Israel anbd their supporters would call Google's move a sensible treatment of a sensitive issue and the Palestinians and their supporters would be annoyed and say Google is supporting the continued occupation of the West Bank (or something). Ultimately, "Palestine" is a good of a name for the place as any.

I think it's absolutely despicable how countries behave. The germans still appear to be in a nationalistic pride campaign, can't handle the fact that the lands to their east were all colonised, and a lot of them stem from a slavic background because their forebears were germanised hundreds of years ago.

The israelis also, had state sanctioned racism against ethiopian jews, where they were trying to sterilise them. I think all we can learn is that people in general, are as bad as each other, anywhere.

That I approve of the,self-perceived, small recognition of Palestinian statehood, or the linguistic doubt over the UN at some point following suit?

Over to you big boy.

There is no problem with you respecting the recognition from google. I obviously was referring to this portion of your comment:

Quote:

Sweepstakes on the UN doing likewise?

In the context that you made this comment, the only possible thing that you could be referring to is the fact that Google has listed Palestine as an independent state. I am assuming that "Sweepstakes" in this context of asking for the odds of the UN doing the same.

This is the part that makes it apparent that you are a fool, because recognizing Palestine as a state is precisely what the UN did in November of last year. You are taking odds on something that has already occurred. To make matters worse, this recognition from the UN is explicitly called out in this very article.

That's a nice gesture to support those terrorists. I hope israel just wake up already, annex those territories to israel, kill the terrorists and civilize the rest .

Which terrorists? You mean the ones with planes? Anyone can be a terrorist, with a rock or with a nuclear bomb.

Generalizing people usually comes from people with low IQ that think the world is flat.

Nice and smart generalization you just did!

Well I have a better idea than yours then. Lets nuke both Israel and Palestine, get rid of both terrorists countries and problem solved. Planet earth and the rest of us will finally live in peace. How do you like that as generalization?

It's always important to tell us what the Holocaust denying, conspiracy theorist and terrorist attack supporting Mahmoud Abbas thinks about things.

Are you really going to bring the tit-for-tat rhetoric into this discussion?

It's not rhetoric. Everyone of those claims is supported by objective sources.

Mahmoud Abbas wrote his thesis on the theory that the Holocaust (which he claims didn't really happen either) was a Nazi-Zionist conspiracy.

He has also supported numerous terrorist attacks. For example, the fact that he funded the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre is well documented.

I've read a lot of the venom that has come from leadership on both sides of that conflict. Lots of objectionable ideas about the other side and the history of the region. Its a mess.

But those are the leaders chosen by their people. And I am not going to let their pasts from decades ago derail any real hope of peace. That kind of tit-for-tat discussion on the topic avoids any chance of finding a solution.

Personally speaking I feel the best solution is a one state solution where all citizens within the larger territory are simply granted Israeli citizenship and given a vote. But again, I do not believe in defining states by ethnicity in this day and age.

Personally speaking I feel the best solution is a one state solution where all citizens within the larger territory are simply granted Israeli citizenship and given a vote. But again, I do not believe in defining states by ethnicity in this day and age.

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And being that 84% of Palestinians support the deliberate massacre of Israeli schoolchildren (such as this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercaz_Ha ... sacre&#41; one wonders what kind of government they would vote for. Unfortunately we already know that. They voted in a group called Hamas who believe that it is their religious duty to murder every Jewish person. Everywhere. Now imagine if they were given a Jewish state...